KANSAS CITY, MO. — Having watched Hisashi Iwakuma pitch as a teammate with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, Masahiro Tanaka probably knows the Mariners right-hander better than any of the Yankees.
So with the former mates scheduled to oppose each other Tuesday night at Seattle’s Safeco Field, the Yankees ace was asked if he would give the hitters advice on how to approach Iwakuma.

“I am not sure if anybody would ask,’’ Tanaka said Sunday before the Yankees lost, 2-1, to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. “Being a pitcher, it’s hard for me to give advice. I am not standing in the batter’s box.’’

From 2007 to 2011, Iwakuma and Tanaka played for Rakuten and formed a friendship.

“I am very much looking forward to it,’’ Tanaka said of the first time the pitchers will be on opposite teams playing in the same stadium.

In his third season with the Mariners, Iwakuma is 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA. Tanaka has dominated MLB hitters across the first two months of the season, posting a 9-1 ledger with a 2.02 ERA that was tops among AL hurlers going into Sunday’s action. His .900 winning percentage was also the best and the nine wins were second.

“That’s a matchup that I would pay to see. I think it will be a dandy,’’ Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon told reporters Sunday.

Iwakuma, 33, is 27-13 with a 2.28 ERA in 56 games for the Mariners.

Tanaka, who will fly ahead of the Yankees to Seattle on Monday, has no plans to chat with his friend prior to facing the Mariners.

“We won’t be talking before the game,’’ Tanaka said. “I will go up to him once the game is over.’’

Five years together forged a friendship that collides in a foreign country and will attract more attention because it is in America than it would have in Japan.

“I was with Iwakuma for five years, but we will be pitching on a different stage together,’’ Tanaka said. “That is what this means.’’